The world is becoming a different place, and just like our phones getting smarter, the way people entertain themselves is advancing, too.
The world of gaming has seen an upward trend over the last year, raising it's annual sales revenue to just above 10% (up from $109 billion in 2017), while most other popular entertainment industries falter -- Television revenue was second but fell 8% from last year, while both the Film and Music industries rose in change, 5% and 8% respectively, but their total revenue pails in comparison to both Television and Gaming (chart below for comparison).
(Newzoo.com)
The gaming industry alone has it's own viewing entertainment, in the form of streaming (where audiences watch a person[s] play games and interact with viewers), which made an estimated $4.6 billion in revenue for 2017, largely impacted by the
Amazon owned
Twitch.tv, which was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for just under $1 billion. Not only are audiences gathering for individual entertainers, but a large portion of this viewership is occupied by the eSports world -- which caters to fanbases of all sorts of competitive Player versus Player (PvP) games.
These eSports games, including DotA 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Overwatch, to name the most popular, have some huge celebrity backings. The organizations, some having teams across different games, share the likes of DJ Steve Aoki and alternative rock band Imagine Dragons (major shareholders of Rogue), NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O'Neal and future-MLB Hall-of-Famer Alex Rodriguez (shareholders of NRG eSports), and entire ownerships of NBA teams such as Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, and the Houston Rockets -- each owning their own teams in League of Legends.
The two categories that are carrying the industry to new heights are seemingly more geared toward casual gamers: VR and AR technology, and the mobile gaming industry. The mobile industry, which accounts for about 42% of gaming industry's revenue, will only continue to climb as ease of access continues to take hold of most industries.
(Newzoo.com)
The future hasn't looked any brighter as this booming industry continues on this uphill trend.